The Reassignment
by MoonStarDutchess
Summary: During a dinner at Grumman's, Riza gets some surprise news that leads her one step closer to something she wants.  Two Part Royai  -Slight post manga/anime spoilers.-Completed-
1. Chapter 1

**The Reassignment**

**Part 1  
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**Author: MoonStarDutchess**

**Beta: Dark Secret Keeper **

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA and gain no profit from this fanfiction. **

**AN: Recently I've had a lot of ideas floating around my head distracting me so I decided to write them out so I could easily get back to my multichannel stuff. For those waiting on bks (My other beta Marxus Krieg has it and for those waiting on Vacuous Heart of Blood, I'm working on it and it should be up sometime next week. XD This is just a cute two part fic written merely for a need of fluff!  
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**The Reassignment  
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Riza Hawkeye was annoyed, but thankful, that she had such a difficult time getting past the security at the front gate to her grandfather's home. It took a show of two of her military Id's and a threat to castrate the guard that suggested a frisk, before they let her drive up the long driveway to the fuehrer's mansion/formal offices.

She parked the car in the driveway and noted a newer model vehicle was sitting closest to the house, the shiny black metal taunting her old but reliable vehicle with its vanity.

She grabbed the basket of cookies she had sitting in the passenger seat and got out of the car. As she walked along the paseo to the door, an instant regret passed through her head and she cursed her choice to wear heels. Patches of ice smoothed the walkway dedicated there by the rain and below freezing weather of the previous night. Thankfully, she made it to the front door without falling and dispersing the contents of her basket onto the ground.

When she knocked on the door, she expected either her grandfather or Patricia, his maid, to open it, figuring that he gave the rest of his staff time off for the holidays. She nearly stepped back on a patch of ice when her Roy answered. A smile formed on his lips the moment his eyes met hers. "Good morning Lieutenant."

She tried to keep the shock from showing on her face upon seeing him there so early. Roy Mustang was rarely early for anything unless absolutely necessary. She reasoned since the get together wasn't anything work related he had a bit more willpower to get out of bed and come. Not to mention Patricia was cooking. Just that fact was enough to get any obstinately dedicated bed lover out of their warm haven.

"Good morning Sir," she said and entered the house. She saw Patricia leave the kitchen and a huge smile blossom upon her thick red lips. The women had the most infectious smile she'd ever seen and, try as she might, Riza could never resist quirking her lips back at the older woman.

"There's my girl!" The Xingese woman enveloped her in a tight hug, Riza barely had time to extend her arm and bring the basket of cookies out of the way to keep them from facing a crumbly death. Roy took the basket from her and moved the red cloth from the top. "How are you?" Patricia asked when the pulled away. "You look lovely. Oh, and you cut your hair!"

Riza reached back to finger the shorter strands and instantly felt a familiar gaze on her.

"You did cut your hair," Roy said with a muffled voice. She turned and saw that he was eating one of the cookies she made. He handed them to Patricia. "She makes the best cookies Pat."

"We'll have them with tea after dinner," she said. "I must get back to cooking for now.

"Do you need any help?"

"No, no. There's some tea in the study. Why don't you go have some with Roy there?" Patricia winked at her and went into the kitchen.

"Let me help you with your coat Lieutenant." She let him help her shrug it off, cringing as a pain spread through her neck when she stretched.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yes, my neck hurts when I move certain ways."

"Have you had it checked?" Roy asked. "The scar can't reopen can it?" He grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards him. He moved the loose collar of her sweater down to look at the scar, not bothering to ask if it was okay to do so. All of this happened before Riza could voice any type of protest.

"No but it's not the scar that hurts Sir, it's just my neck. When those fuehrer rejects pulled me by the hair, it injured me. It's really only bad in cold weather."

"I see." His voice was low as he ran a finger across the scar. She lifted her hand to his wrist and met his gaze.

"It's fine." She spoke in a whisper, not sure why, only knowing that it seemed fitting.

Roy pulled his hand away and nodded.

"So where is my grandfather? Better yet, where is everyone else? Your sisters usually come barreling at me."

"The others haven't arrived yet, apparently they were told noon instead of 10 am, and Grumman went to pick up my mother and sisters from the train station."

They walked into the study and sure enough, there was a large tea set sitting on the table with enough cups that one would think it was a wedding rather than a get together for a new holiday.

"Why do you ask? Don't you want to be alone with me?" His voice was humorous but held a bit of curiosity. Riza found that the question made her a little uneasy.

"This holiday. . ." she sat down on the couch, took one of the teacups from the tray, and continued, "I'm surprised it caught on so well."

She kept her gaze on her teacup as she filled it with the freshly brewed liquid. She heard Roy sigh and the couch shifted under his weight. "I'm not really," he said, "I know the people of this country sometimes envied the other countries with their holidays and traditions. According to the plays and other small festivals they wanted the national holidays but were too afraid to bring it up to the fuehrer."

"I understand going along with that Christmas thing, and letting the Ishbalians have their holidays but this one is a bit strange."

Roy sat back when Riza handed him the teacup. "From a professional and political perspective, it's good for the nation to have holidays like this. It unifies the country. Everyone celebrating the same thing on the same day."

"I think I'm just too set in my ways. I'm used to being alone most of the time."

"So I'm not good company? You spend most of your time with me."

"That's professionally." She felt him tense suddenly but didn't expect his next words.

"Um…do you want to spend some time with me out of the office?"

Her head jerked toward him and her eyebrows furrowed. "Are you asking me out?"

"Yeah, you know Grumman got rid of that frat rule. So many couples in the military have been dating and some even marrying. If anything, attendance and morale have doubled."

"Yes, but those couples aren't directly in each other's chain of command. It's like Havoc and Rebecca can date because she's under Grumman's command and Havoc is under yours."

He looked at her intently. "Do you trust me?"

"That's the dumbest question you've ever asked."

"Then I'm asking you to go out to dinner with me tonight and trust me on something. Grumman will make the announcement at dinner and all will be clear."

Riza ignored the looming feeling of dread at hearing her grandfather was going to make an announcement but made sure not to let it affect her outwardly. "Dinner? We're having a huge meal in a few hours."  
"How about a walk alone? We'll have a lot to talk about."

Riza bit her bottom lip, a nervous habit. "Yes. Okay."

"You act like you are facing a death sentence." Roy put down his cup, lifted his thumb to her bottom lip, and stroked it. She released the bite and pressed her lips together. "You always do that when you're nervous."

She grinned slightly. "I don't like not knowing exactly what is going to happen. Especially when I know that something is going to happen."

"Come on. It's a surprise."  
"I don't really care for those."

Roy leaned in closer, their lips mere centimeters apart, and smiled. "You'll love this one."

"If you –"

"Oh my god they're actually closer than a few feet!" they heard someone screech. They jerked from their positions and looked to the door. Roy's sisters were all standing there, with Christmas and Grumman looking in.

"You are annoying them. Leave them alone. " All eyes moved to the tallest sister there, Raven. She flipped her black hair back and smirked. Riza knew without a doubt she was about to counteract the purpose of that comment with more words. "Even though it did take them a long long . . . long long. . . long long time to get where they are now."

And there it was. Riza shook her head and sat down the teacup, visibly annoyed. Roy grabbed the hand she'd rested beside her on the couch and squeezed it.

"Leave them alone," Christmas said.

"After dinner you can tease them all you like," Grumman said. Riza noted the mysterious twinkle in his eye and felt her face grow cold. Something was definitely going to change and she wasn't sure if this would be a good thing or not. Usually that twinkle accompanied embarrassment or annoyance and, more often than not, barreled straight at her.

**/=/=/=/=/**

For her, Grumman's pending after dinner announcement seemed to overshadow the dinner itself. She didn't take part in much of the conversation around the table as everyone caught up with what was going on in their personal lives. She opted out of speaking about hers; there was nothing interesting to speak about. She was dull.

Before the dinner, she'd pulled Rebecca aside and asked if she knew anything about it. After recovering from the fact Riza didn't know the announcements topic, Rebecca revealed all she knew was Grumman would announce something important. She wasn't secure enough to ask the others in the room about it, fearing her inquisitiveness would make its way back to Roy.

Now she was sitting on a chair, legs crossed, and a small glass of punch in her hand, searching around the room and feeling rather stupid that she wasn't socializing because the only thing her mind could process was contemplating what her grandfather was going to say. She jumped when Roy sat down on the chair beside her. "Relax. You said you trusted me. You'll like his announcement. I promise."

Grumman smiled as he moved to the fireplace and everyone gathered around. Rebecca sat on the other side of Riza and leaned toward her. "Here we go. The big mystery announcement."

"Well, as I told you all before you came, I have a very important announcement to make. Before I make this known to the public, I wanted to share it with people involved and the people I'm thankful to know.

"We've all gone through a lot but no one more than Lieutenant General Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye so I am so thankful that I can do this for them." He smiled. "I've put this off for the past year due to everything being so busy for all of us but now I think its time to announce that effective Monday, November 29th Roy Mustang will no longer be a Lieutenant General."

Riza stiffened and opened her mouth to say something but Roy grabbed her hand and shook his head. "Calm down," he whispered with amusement.

Riza returned her focus on her grandfather, who was staring at her with a grin on his face. "Lieutenant General Mustang will now be General Mustang but shall be addressed as Vice Fuehrer Roy Mustang."

Riza laughed and a huge smile appeared on her face. Vice Fuehrer! It was one-step away from running the country. For the most part, he'd have a very large part in running things. It was wonderful.

The room instantly erupted in cheers and everyone moved to felicitate Roy with a bunch of finally's and about times amalgamated in with the gratulatory words.

Riza smiled at him. "Congratulations Sir."

"It's not over yet."

Riza looked back to her grandfather who was looking directly at her. "With this new change there will be promotions down the ranks as to restructure the best people of each job so that we can do our best for the citizens," Grumman said. "With this we need increased security. Most of the security teams for the former Fuehrer and Generals were injured or killed during the incident so we've been lacking in the structure needed. I know no one better to reorganize security than the person that was in the mist of it all. So effective Monday as well, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye will be promoted to Captain and begin to organize the security teams needed."

Riza was stunned but within seconds of everyone starting to congratulate her, her stomach twisted. When she plastered a smile on her face, she noticed Roy's face turn to an expression of concern. Roy Mustang was always able to read her and he realized what everyone else didn't.

She didn't want the position.

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**AN: Hope you enjoyed it. Part 2 will be coming soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Reassignment **

**Part 2  
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**Author: MoonStarDutchess**

**Beta: Dark Secret Keeper **

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA and gain no profit from this fanfiction. **

**AN: Honestly wasn't sure to make this as a second part or stick it with the first since it was so short but ultimately I listened to my gut and decided to stick it as a second instead.  
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**The Reassignment Pt 2**

It took a lot of work to keep up the facade of happiness about her new promotion and position in the military. The task was only complicated more by the fact she felt Roy's focus on her, studying every move she made, for the past half hour. She excused herself from a conversation with Raven and Maria Ross, citing the need for some fresh air, and went outside to the patio to escape from his dark gaze.

Not long after she left the house, she heard someone come up behind her, easily telling exactly who it was by his footfalls and the smell that the cool wind brought to her nose. He walked beside her and looked out over the garden. "I believe you said you'd go for a walk with me after dinner."

"I did."

"Do you still want to go or are you angry with me?"

Riza hesitated a moment before turning her head to the right to look at him. "Where to?"

**/=/=/=/**

Ten minutes later, after managing to navigate through the party goers to the front door to get her coat, she found herself walking with Roy along a small cobblestone pathway that ran through the property.

"You bought a new car?" She tried to keep the conversation as impersonal as possible without going too much onto a business route. She rubbed her hands together, cursing that she left her gloves at home. She saw a bit of frustration in his eyes but he replied to her observance.

"Yeah, I did. Thought it was about time to retire my old one. Now it belongs to a nice elderly couple."

"That's nice. It should prove useful for them."

Roy sighed. "Stop trying to distract me from how you feel. I can read you just as good as you can read me."

"Sir?"

"You aren't happy."

"No, I'm not. At least not with the second announcement."

"I don't understand why," he said. "It's a great responsibility."

She hugged her coat closer to her body. "Yeah, no doubt it is."

"Being a captain also pays much better than being a lieutenant."

"I like being a lieutenant. My job was never about the salary."

Roy laughed but it was one of those breathy laughs indicating he didn't find the circumstances as funny as he did incredulous. "I think you are the first officer in the history of the military to be upset about a promotion."

She stopped and turned to him. "This is going to make me break my promise to you. I promised that I would support you until you became fuehrer. You told me to shoot you if you ever strayed from the path and I take my promise very seriously. You aren't fuehrer yet and by my reassignment I can't protect you or fulfill my promise."

"You can assign people that are capable." A strange quizzical expression developed onto his face, as if he suddenly realized something important. He opened his mouth to speak, but she spoke first.

"But it's not me that will be protecting you. I can't ever trust anyone with your life like that." She exhaled through her nose roughly and continued to try to warm her hands.

Roy took her hands and rubbed them between his, trying to put a bit of warmth back into it. A moment later, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his gloves. She watched as he slipped them on her hands and then looked up at him. She knew he never let anyone wear his gloves. He kept her right hand in his left and began walking again, basically forcing her to start walking as well.

"Then don't," Roy said.

"What?"

"You're in charge of the teams but you'll be answering directly to Grumman. No one said you couldn't assign yourself to my team. You aren't being reassigned Riza. You were given a task, with extra paperwork of course, and a promotion to go along with it. Unless you want to move positions you'll still be with me."

She clinched her teeth. "Why in the hell did he make it sound like a reassignment?"

"I suppose it is if you want to reassign yourself."

Riza shook her head. "I feel like an idiot."

"We all have our moments."

"You would know right?" She punctuated her tone with a teasing lilt.

"Funny."

She sighed. "Things are changing so quickly now that Bradley is out of office. I think my mind just doesn't want to grasp that I don't have to worry about homunculi and overthrowing the government. I'm not used to peace and it makes me so uneasy." She pulled away and moved over to lean back against a fence surrounding a small pond.

"Peace makes you uneasy. That's rather contradictory isn't it?"

"We've been fighting for so long then suddenly we don't have to do nearly as much. We don't have to be covert and worry about walls listening as much. I can't seem to get used to that. Recently the worst problem we had was making sure that a random Ishbalian didn't come up and try to kill us. Even they showed no acts of violence though."

"You aren't thankful for that?"

"Of course I am, that's not the point."

"Well violence isn't the Ishbalian way. Never really was."

Riza nodded. "I know."

Roy looked to his right and chuckled. "This is something."

"What is?"

"Our conversations always turn out to be related to business. I didn't want today to be too professional. I should have known that would be a failure considering the announcement."

"It's just natural for us."

Roy took another deep breath then walked over to her and braced his hands on either side of her, effectively trapping her body between him and the fence. "I want something else to be natural for us."

Riza's heart sped up. "And what would that be?" Her hands moved to grasp his wrists as her words came out along with a white cloud of breath. Roy soon took that breath when his lips moved against hers briefly. Riza smiled softly. "That seemed. . ." she took a deep, shuttering breath, ". . . that seemed pretty natural to me."

"Good," he said. "Now I can do that not worry as much about the consequences of dating you now that now that I'm not doing your evaluations. There's a right time for everything and now's the right time for me to confess that I'm completely in love with you."

Without a doubt there was always a mutual fondness far deeper than friendship stemming from both of them-she'd be an idiot to deny that —but to hear that it got to the point he was in love with her both thrilled and terrified her.

"Now would be a good time for you to say something." Riza smiled and let go of his wrists. She turned around to stare out at the pond. "I mean, I know it's sudden of me to tell you that but it's the truth and the more I wait the more I lose my courage. It's perfectly okay if you don't feel the same but I—"

She leaned back against him and in a bold, and unexpected move, she arched her head upward and pushed her lips against his. His arms hugged her body as her arms moved up to wrap around his neck.

Their mouths danced with each other with perfect pacing, as if expertly choreographed and meticulously rehearsed for just that moment. They confronted the kiss like they faced everything that came upon them. With passion, heart, and commitment that very few people could muster within themselves. The years that passed, when they repressed everything for the sake of their goal, only served to grow their bond to this present, blissful moment in time.

When they pulled away, Roy turned her around in his embrace and she rested her head against this chest.

"In case you didn't know," Riza said when she caught her breath, "that means I love you too."

"So does that mean you'll go out to dinner with me?"

She poked him gently and laughed. "Yes. If you want."

"Tomorrow night?"

"Yes."

"And the next?"

"Sure."

"And how about becoming first lady when I become fuehrer."

Riza moved to look up at his face. "From dinner to first lady? That's a little sudden."

"I just want to make sure you approve of that reassignment. Even though I don't know when that will be of course."

"Well…" she said, "I'll be ready when that reassignment comes and you'll get no complaints out of me."

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**AN: Hope you enjoyed it! Much love and huggles! **


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